Sunday, July 18, 2010

Auntie Joyce Talks Turkey About How to Tone Your Mercury

Auntie Joyce, known for her funny and pointed astro-aphorisms, just arrived at the door of The Radical Virgo in her gym shorts to talk about Mercury. She thinks we could use the equivalent of a Pilates class to get our Mercs in better shape for this crazy cyber sprint we’re all signed up for, this marathon of Mercurial madness called the Virtual World. (Not to be confused with the Virtuous World.) Auntie says:

Your Mercury has never been more important. If you’re past your midlife transits, chances are you digest more information in a week than you did, as a kid, in a year. This can lead to Information Indigestion and near-permanent dizziness, like you just got off a fast spinning merry-go-round. My theory is that the Information Revolution has required us to morph faster than our physical vehicles can keep up with … but each Mercury sign, if tweaked and toned like your body during a good workout, can work in your favor. Your enhanced Mercury muscles can help you navigate the chaos of a bazillion websites, social networking communities, Skype, e-mail, YouTube, and an onslaught of images groping for your attention at all times. (Whew! Just writing about it wore me out.)

Let’s take a spin around the zodiac and talk about how you can tone up and tune up your Merc.

Tune-Up Your Mercury Every 3,000 Keyboard Miles

(Will someone with Mercury in Aquarius hurry up and invent the keyboard odometer?)

Mercury in Aries - Full speed ahead, your mind is on fire. You read, write, and communicate in all ways quickly. You’ll be the first to try out a new technology or widget. You leave others in your wake. That’s the problem. To make meaningful cyber connections, you need to pick up your head from the Ram “horns down” position and let some of your fiery energy sink to your heart chakra. This means slowing down a little. No problem surfing the Net in overdrive, but when it comes to those people connections on Facebook, Twitter, and My Space, be sure you take the time to make thoughtful comments, to help your fellow cyber buds, and to think of others. You may garner thousands of followers, but if you only give them a glancing hello on the run, do you think they’ll buy your friendship, much less your products or services?

Mercury in Taurus - If Mercury in Aries is Speedy, you’re Pokey. You mull things over. Pretty and luxurious stuff attracts your attention, along with moneymaking schemes. You need a motto or affirmation that commits to a single sentence why you use the internet. Example: I use the Internet to make friends, make sales, and make it with men (or women). Keep coming back to your goals. You’re likely to get lost looking at your Cousin Joe’s vacation photos from a lush, tropical island. You like to click through on those alluring promises of making millions on the Internet. Since you click at the speed of dirt, like most Mercury in Earth signs, you don’t have as much time to waste. Focus! Use the “5 things a day” rule of thumb. Do five things every day that further your goals. Uh, Mercury in Taurus? Get out of that art gallery site. I’m talking to you!

Mercury in Gemini – The Brave New World of Constant Communication was made for you, which is both your blessing and curse. You flit here, there, and everywhere. With your curious mind and tendency to bore easily, you’re in hog heaven on the wide cyber turf of nearly 27 billion websites. But what about depth? To have true knowledge, you have to dig deep into some things to glean the archeology of how they work and to unearth their wisdom. Similarly, if you do dating sites, you probably have wondered how such great mind connections sometimes flop when taken a step further to coffee or another form of in-person meeting. It’s not how much or well you talk or on how many subjects; it’s how well you reach your “subject.” Your quicksilver mind can become easily obsessed with games, chats, and that made-for-Gemini phenomenon, the tweet. Choose one thing in your huge chain of multi-interests and get to know it well. Maybe it’s one social networking site. Maybe Facebook will become your community and ground your lively Mercury, enhancing its greatest gifts--but only if you offer your friends more than chitchat.

Mercury in Cancer – You’re a touchy-feely communicator, and this bodes will for the potential to make deep friendships on the Internet. One thing about cyber connections. When made between mature adults who know how to sense a kindred spirit, this form of “sight unseen” relationship can be among the deepest you’ll ever know. Without physical or cultural context, we communicate online heart to heart and mind to mind. There’s no interference of the unconscious stereotyping we all do but hate to admit. Mercury in Cancer can enjoy that kind of deep friendship if she pays close attention to necessary safety factors: don’t disclose too much, too soon. Be sure your new friend is trustworthy, someone you got to know because of a shared interest or friends. Above all, don’t crab, cry, or mother-hen people on the public wall. Monitor your public persona and don’t reveal too much where everyone can see, even if they are your chosen Facebook friends. Certain levels of intimacy belong in one-on-one e-mails. Don’t cry, Mercury in Cancer. I know you wish you’d have read this sooner. Better late than never!

Mercury in Leo – Like the MGM lion at the beginning of that studio’s movies, your communications come in with a big roar and lots of spotlights on—YOU! Like Gemini, there’s a certain sync between how you naturally communicate and what social networking sites are all about. They make us all stars in our own constellations. However, it’s important to know when enough is enough. After you’ve gleefully seen who has left messages or tweets for you today, take time to remember your Leo generosity and do at least as many back. Yes, it’s All About You here—but it’s All About You for everyone! Your warm way of expressing yourself, your humor, and your command of a crowd will keep your followers in the thousands. Just be sure the applause goes both ways. Applause sends waves of appreciation from heart to heart. (See Getting the Clap.)

Mercury in Virgo - Here’s the thing. I know that many social networking sites with their short status lines were originally set up for close friends and family to catalog their every move. But do you have any concept how boring that is? No one uses the status line for its original purpose, or at least not often. No one cares that you ate Earth-Friendly Granola for breakfast, a scant half cup with skim milk. Not even your mother. Keep details down to a minimum and boring unnecessary ones down to none. Now to open Merc in Virgo’s gift in today’s 24/7 worldwide Internet Café—research! You find things no one else can, and you’re both thorough and accurate. There is precious little of that going around. You’re a blessing and counterbalance to Internet rumors that take on lives of their own. Keep finding the facts. Keep us honest. Keep being right—in a nice way. But, of course, I don’t have to tell Mercury in Virgo to be polite. Virgo must be the Mercury sign of Miss Manners!

In the Little Prince by Saint-Exupery, the fox defines taming as “establishing ties,” that once tamed, two beings need each other. Isn’t that what the Internet and interdependence are ultimately all about?

Mercury in Libra - How do you get any work done for all that socializing? The day starts with long and loving personal e-mails, followed by checks into your favorite social networks, including lots of reading and responding to items posted by your zillion friends. You win the Miss Congeniality Award on every one of them. Much like Mercury in Gemini, you are in your element on the Internet, especially on places like Facebook and Twitter. However, being other-oriented in your communications style, your projects don’t even get a look until you’ve taken care of everyone else. Your love of beauty and ambience leaves you lost on Dreamstime or Fotolia in search of the most fabulous photo for your blog. It’s amazing you have written more than two posts. You live for Comments, and will do anything to jump-start a dialogue. Hint for getting some of that longed-for Libran balance: At least once a week, take care of yourself and your To-Do List first. No one will die, no one will suffer. In fact, they will miss your morning missive so much, they’ll write twice wondering where you are. Always leave them wanting more!

Mercury in Scorpio – Well, you know Auntie Joyce sometimes has a flare for being blunt. The first thing that came to mind is you think like an undertaker. Stop being so morose. The Internet is a party! Now that we’ve got that straightened out, let’s decide if you’re in or out on this social networking thing. If you’re going to do it, you have to get over your paranoia and write more than some mysterious screen name and an obscure quote on your wall, leaving everyone wondering if you’re for real--or just a vampire who only comes out of your coffin, if e-mailed a pint of virtual blood. Am I being too harsh? Too much mystique is not mysterious. It’s creepy, and no one wants to friend you. Like Cancer, you need good boundaries online, but when the boundaries become barriers that no one can cross even on Visitor’s Day, it’s time to edit your Personal Info and get a bit more personal. Another excellent researcher, you can dig out the facts in any discussion group and offer depth insights that are healing and life changing. We really need you! If the cape and mask help you feel more comfortable, OK. I can’t really see them from here, anyway (and thank God, you can’t see my garland of garlic, either.) PS – No stinging on the public wall. Work things out in the privacy of an e-mail.

Mercury in Sagittarius – Yet another Mercury sign that thrives in the Info Age, Merc in Sag is in his element or her glory with global communications. As one who loves world cultures, now you can have virtual travel at your fingertips. With your bent for spirituality and higher education, there’s no end to the classes you can take online or the conversations you can have about religion and ethics. And publications? Don’t get me started! Blogs and web sites were made for you. Of course, you’ll draw many friends with your generous, optimistic, fun and far-sighted essence. However, to keep them, be sensitive to over-generalizing and over-inserting yourself into others’ affairs with blunt and unrequested opinions. (Auntie Joyce does not always practice what she preaches in this regard.) You want to know it all, but acting like a know-it-all can result in losing followers or turning your blogs into flaming bonfires of controversy that burn others and burn themselves out. As someone concerned with the truth and what’s right, you’ll ultimately want more balance of opinion on your blogs and an atmosphere in your communications that meets one of the dreams closest to your heart—being culturally and socially influential.

Mercury in Capricorn – For those of you who can get past its new-fangledness and how difficult it is for you to let go of traditional business paradigms, Merc in Caps have a golden opportunity to become wealthy Interpreneurs. I’d guess that there’s a Capricorn Mercury behind most of those ads and videos that suck you in and won’t let you go until you cry uncle! The websites that won’t let you past the gate till you give up your e-mail address! (They are the equivalent of the door-to-door salesman who puts his foot in the slamming door.) That said, your practical, hardworking way of thinking and calculating profits should have you reaping the rewards of several online businesses in no time flat. While you’ve got the biz moxie to pull it off, the Internet is a freedom-loving frontier where there’s little room for the confined, restricted, stuffy businessman or –woman of old. If you can be patient with yourself and your discomfort with this level of progress—a tall order for this Mercury sign—the sky’s the limit, and you will bring order and reap economic success from the rocket ride. Tone your wisdom, decisiveness, and patience—some of your best qualities for success in the Brave New Cyber World.

Mercury in Aquarius - Is the keyboard odometer done yet? Your Mercury sign probably invented the Internet, what with your unusual, electronic, inventive, brainstormy, and revolutionary ways of thinking. In fact, JCR Licklider, one of the team of researchers credited with conceiving of the Internet, indeed has this placement [1]. From a purely technical perspective, you might be the most comfortable of all the Mercury signs in the cyber world. With your love of communication, innovation, friendship, and group-orientation, it’s a terrific place for you emotionally as well. It satisfies nearly all your urges! You’re likely to be called on by many a friend for your geek skills, and no medium has ever been invented before now so capable of connecting you with people for visionary mental meet-ups. Tone up your helpful, humanitarian Mercury; tone down disruptive, opinionated, and eccentric tendencies so that you don’t alienate your followers and become a Stranger in a Strange Land.

Mercury in Pisces - Often you're not the most computer-versed individuals. What do you need a computer for when you can make a psychic connection? However, as a lover of everyone and everything, not to mention being addictive by nature, once you jump into the electronic pond, it’s easy to lose yourself. For you, the Internet can be a drug more potent than heroin—or your grandma’s homemade fudge! Like the other water signs, Auntie Joyce cautions you to be careful out there regarding what you reveal and the kinds of people with whom you exchange data. Use your considerable intuition and sensitivity to smell a rat and don’t hang out with rodents. You know they’ll get to you and cord you with their creepy energy. Living on the upside of this Mercury placement, you can have amazing connections with people and inspired experiences in the spiritual and fine arts realms. (Wasn’t that you I saw coveting a Monet print in the art gallery site where I collared Mercury in Taurus?) Put all rumors you hear to the test (use Snopes) and all people to the test of getting to know them a little at a time. There’s no more beautiful rendition of this ritual than in one of my favorite books, The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. The mini-royal wants to get to know a fox (dodgy at best), and the fox tells him, he can’t play with him because he’s not tame. The fox later defines taming as “establishing ties,” that once tamed, two beings need each other.

Isn’t that what the Internet and interdependence are ultimately all about? As usual, Pisces absorbs all the lessons of the zodiac in this Mercury placement, showing us our highest communications ideals, if we just yield to tempt-tame-tion.

Auntie’s Credentials

In closing, as you may have guessed, Auntie Joyce considers herself quite an authority on social networking. It’s not just because she tweets and Facebooks every day, but because she lives in the SN Capitol of the World—California! Did you know that the majority of the top sites’ corporate headquarters are located here? Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, You Tube, and Flickr. Care to guess California’s Mercury sign? Think and make your best guess before you peek at the answer below. Don’t you just love a quiz?

~~~Auntie Joyce is an alter ego of astrologer Joyce Mason, who has too much Libra in her chart (not to mention Neptune conjunct Mercury) to tell it like it is. When candor is required, she invities Auntie Joyce to guest blog.

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What is a Radical Virgo?

To learn the characteristics of a Radical Virgo, read Joyce Mason’s article, “The Radical Virgo.” In a nutshell, these Virgos are not the old fussbudget stereotype—no Felix Ungers or Adrian Monks here. Radical Virgos have the potential to change the world through their ability to develop and discover their unique pattern, becoming true human beings—not “human doings.” Radical Virgos give service in a whole new way by contributing to their community and world what they were designed to give. When we each do that, we have made heaven on earth. It’s like having all the cogs in the great wheel of creation turning like they were just oiled!

You don't even have to be a Sun Virgo to have the characteristics of a Radical Virgo, though any planets in the V-sign help. You don’t join this club. You recognize that you already belong.

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Who is "The Radical Virgo?"

Joyce Mason has Sun in the last degree of Virgo, three planets in Libra, Taurus Rising and a Capricorn Moon. She's a "PUNC," or a person with a prominence of the outer planets Pluto, Uranus, Neptune--add bridging and healing Chiron. (See her Outerplanetary People series for more on PUNCs.) Joyce is often mistaken for an Aquarius/ Sagittarius blend. Even if you don’t speak astrology, that makes sense on some symbolic level because they both end in “ius.” She believes that I and Us are one in the same—and celebrates the human spirit in which we’re all joined.

First and foremost a writer, Joyce was a consulting astrologer, tarot reader, dreamworker, and flower essence practitioner for 25 years. Her astrological specialties are the sign of Virgo and the centaur planet, Chiron. She writes on these and many other topics. Read her complete bio and astrology articles on her Writer Joyce Mason website.

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